EFFECT OF COMPUTER SIMULATIONS PACKAGE ON SECONDARY SCHOOL STUDENTS’ ACADEMIC ACHIEVEMENT IN PHYSICS IN ANAMBRA STATE

Abstract

This study investigated the effect of Computer Simulation Package (CSP) on academic 
achievement of students in physics. The research design was quasi experimental research 
design, specifically, non-equivalent control group. The sample consisted of 65 senior 
secondary school two (SSII) students which is made up of 50 experimental group (28 males 
and 22 females) while control group was 15 students (2 males and 13 females) drawn from two 
co-educational secondary schools in Awka Education Zone of Anambra State. Instrument used 
for data collection was Physics Achievement Test (PAT) which was validated by physics 
education lecturers from science education department and pilot-tested in another zone. Scores 
obtained from pre-test and post-test were used to estimate the instrument reliability and its 
reliability co-efficient was found to be 0.88 using Kuder Richardson formula 20. The 
hypotheses were tested at 0.05 level of significance using ANCOVA. The result revealed that 
computer simulation was more effective in enhancing students’ academic achievement in 
physics than lecture method; there was no significant difference on students’ academic 
achievement due to gender. It was recommended that computer simulation package should be 
adopted for teaching physics concepts. Based on the findings, it was concluded that computer 
simulation should be employed in physics teaching in order to improve the students’ academic 
achievement and increase their retention capacity and also the government and education 
stakeholders should encourage the use of computer simulation package in teaching physics in 
secondary schools.